


Laughter's Echo

by Chipsinabox



Category: DC Universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-12 09:41:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13544694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chipsinabox/pseuds/Chipsinabox
Summary: Jason Todd, the second robin, has been kidnapped by the Joker alongside a small girl named Maisey. After months of captivity, an inseperable bond is forged between the two tortured souls just as all hope is running out. Will Batman ever find them? If he does, what will happen when they have to rejoin the rag-tad family of Gotham vigilantes?





	Laughter's Echo

A sickening laughter rang through an abandoned wing of Arkham Asylum. The soft thuds of metal hitting a warm body and a boy shouting expletives stirred little Maisey from her slumber in a locked chamber nearly 25 feet beneath the musty and cracked floor tiles. Air vents carried the sound downward, contorting and amplifying the twisted sounds until they roared through the tiny prison. The little girl shivered, covering her ears and crying softly. She paced the room, trying to think of a way to get back to the orphanage with the nice lady who always gave her hugs. 

After the noise had subsided, Maisey tapped at the vent. A few minutes passed and a voice whispered back. She couldn’t understand it, but the fact that someone knew she was down there now filled her with delight. She waited for another reply. Again, the sound warped beyond recognition but she could make out that it was two syllables. She may not be able to make words, but she tried her best to understand them. 

Maisey shuffled to the door, determined to find two syllable boy, when the handle turned from the other side. A lanky figure reached out and gripped her by her hair, cracking it with a metal bar to knock her out.

Once she came to, Maisey was sitting in a chair, tied to its back. A mirror was placed in front of her and a spotlight beamed brightly down on her to keep the rest of the room hidden. A man stepped out of the darkness, sickly pale with green hair and a too large smile drawn on in blood.

“Well welcome to the show, little girl! I’m the Joker, and you’re gonna be a  _ star _ ,” he chirped. A small cart dragged behind him with a gaggle of jars clinking against each other. He drew his hands behind his back and showed Maisey his cracked yellow teeth. “Your name is Carla. Say it.”

Maisey tried to sound out the words but her lips wouldn’t form the right way. She was too scared to make a sound. The Joker frowned and backhanded her across the face. She whimpered and curled up as much as she could in the chair. 

“Now now dear, I never got to meet my daughter, you know. I always wanted to see her when she was just about your age, bubbly and full of life. So I thought, why not make her again? I did the first time, didn’t I?” He said, walking around behind Maisey and gripping her chin so she stared into the mirror. “She never got born, you know how life can be. She would have had my skin, of course-” he opened a jar of white face paint and slapped it onto Maisey’s skin, dragging it around before dipping his hands into green powders, “-and my hair!” His fingers tangled in Maisey’s hair as the powder seeped through the strands. She closed her eyes tight.

“Of course, no daughter of mine would be complete without…” The Joker dipped his fingers into a dark jar and dragged the thick and goopy fluid across Maisey’s lips and cheeks into a wide, dripping smile. It was warm and smelled rancid, like iron and the spoiled meat they used to give her and the others at the orphanage. His hand held her chin straight until she opened her eyes and tried to scream.

Day after day Maisey was told the same thing. You are his daughter. You hate Batman. Smile. Laugh. It’s all just funny. She played along for the Joker and his energetic psychopath of a girlfriend. Maisey hated her more, she knew what do to make her think how they wanted. Electric shocks, holding her head under water, anything to make her say what they wanted. It didn’t take long for the little girl to start to play along.

One day Joker brought her up from the little dungeon she was kept in. The room he brought her to was dark and a ghostly figure sat in a wheelchair covered by a sheet. Joker shoved her into the light and ordered her to take the sheet off. When she did, the battered and bloody face of Robin, Batman’s young counterpart, peered at her through swollen features. She stepped back and could feel tears pricking themselves at the corners of her eyes and threatening to ruin the layers upon layers of makeup that had been caked on her face. The boy seemed equally horrified.

“Fuck, what did they do to you?” he whispered. Maisey walked up to him and pulled out a handkerchief from the suit Harley had fitted her in. She was shaking as she tried to wipe away the blood from Robin’s face, knowing it probably itched like the makeup did to her. Her stroked were gentle and she started crying, wishing deep down that someone knew where they were. 

“Alright, then, kiddies! _ Playtime’s over _ .”

Joker’s voice turned dark and he swung a crowbar past Maisey’s hand and struck Robin in the face. Blood spattered across the little girl’s face and Harley gripped her shoulders tight. She screeched, “Come on, kiddo! Laugh! Laugh like Mistah J taught ya how!” Maisey tried to muster a laugh but the chuckled came out as twisted sobs. Each time a laugh wasn’t right, she was punished with either a swift hit on the side or being lifted by her matted hair.

This went one for weeks before Maisey perfected the laugh and managed to scratch a smile onto her face when she would visit Robin. Joker tried to get her to hit him but she still wouldn’t, pretending she was too weak. Eventually, he left her alone with the boy wonder while he went out with Harley to get some new toys. Maisey crawled out of the corner of the room and stood before Robin. He was hanging by his arms and barely seemed to have any life left in him. 

“Kid, get lost.”

Maisey walked up to Robin and looked straight up at him.

“Kid, I said get lost...you gotta get out of here.”

Maisey reached up to her own face and rubbed, using her sleeves to scratch away the makeup and break through to finally let her skin breathe. She started to sob and laugh, looking back up at Robin and seeing where the chain that held him led to. A switch on the wall, just low enough for her to jump and grab, let him tumble to the floor.  She scrambled over to untie him and help him into a more comfortable position. He laid on his back, breathing heavily and relaxing against the cool concrete floor.

Maisey went to the sink to get a wet rag and came back, doing the same thing she always tried to do. She wiped the blood off of his face and hands, tried her best with his uniform. Once she was done he sat up and took the rag. She was still giggling faintly.

“Can you go clean this for me real quick?”

Maisey nodded and rushed to clean the rag before returning it. Then, Robin pulled her to sit in front of him and started to wipe away the makeup that Joker put on her. He was gentle as he could working across her face and wiping through her hair. The mask was thick and crusty, discolored from age. Jason could have sworn it had been months since this little girl's skin had felt clean.

“I’ll get us out of here now, don’t you worry. I may have been strapped in a chair for months, but I can still move.” Robin gave her a brave smile and she stopped his hand, surprised by how warm her tears were rolling down her face. She got up and pulled on Robin’s hand to get him to follow but he was too weak so she gave him a hug and ran out of the room, promising to be back soon. She found a vent that led outside and used one of Joker’s tools to open it.

The fresh air hit her like a cannonball. Even with the smog and muck that surrounded Arkham Asylum, the air cleared her lungs like a firehose through dirt. She coughed and plopped out onto the street as police officers were bringing in their latest collar. Batman followed close behind and she tucked away behind a trash can instantly. A cat ran out from its hiding spot and the noise drew Batman closer.

As the dark knight peered around the trash can he found a tiny, crying, and shivering girl in a torn up purple dress with makeup smeared across her face. He reached out to her and she took his hand, trying to pull him towards the vent she had come out of. 

“Woah there, where are you trying to take me?” he asked. The deep rumbling in his voice was oddly soothing but Maisey slipped inside anyway and tried to wait for him to come through. “I can’t fit in there, come on out now.” Maisey felt like crying and started to laugh. She gripped at her hair and ran back to where Robin was being kept. 

Robin was still sitting up but looked much more tired than before. Maisey tried once more to rouse him but he could only groan softly. She got some water and splashed a bit in his face to wake him up. Running between the vent and Robin was becoming tiring and she was low on breath as Joker’s laugh ripped through her and tore apart her heart. Batman had posted police officers where she went inside and disappeared. 

Soon, the dark knight dropped in on Maisey in the hallway and scooped her up. He refused to let her go as she struggled and she finally managed to stop laughing, mustering all the strength he had to push past her fear and scream, “ROBIN!”

Batman dropped her in shock. She scrambled down the hall and kept repeating the same thing over and over. “Robin, Robin, Robin!” The man tore through the building with her, too desperate from the thought that he had lost another partner to consider if this was a trap. When they reached the room Robin was in, Joker had already returned and was setting the boy up to be electrocuted. Maisey squeezed through the door’s opening and grabbed a pipe, aiming with all her might behind his knees. 

Joker gripped the pipe and snagged it on the collar of her jacket. “Little girls should listen to their fathers!” he shouted, tossing her in front of Robin. He struck her across the head and she collapsed to the ground. Pain rang through her as the crowbar kept coming down like a hammer to its gong, counting down the moments before Batman could break down the door. She could hear more people shouting, and as she faded into unconsciousness she saw pairs of black boots and blue uniforms flooding the room. Joker’s laugh cruelly rang in her ears as everything went black.


End file.
